UC-NRLF 


p       B    3    TM7    ^7fl 


A  Kniqht  Of  The  Order  Of  Poets" 


DAVID    STARR  JORDAN 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 


Knight  of  the  Order  of  Poets  " 


By 

DAVID   STARR  JORDAN 

President  of  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University 


**Bie  Xutt  ^er  fvcibcit  vocbf' 


BOSTON 

AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION 

25  BEACON  STREET 


Copyright,  1910 
AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION 


•  ••«■«. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

For  many  of  the  details  of  the 
life  of  Hutten,  and  for  most  of  the 
quotations  from  Hutten's  writings 
given  in  this  book,  the  writer  is 
indebted  to  the  excellent  memoir 
by  David  Friedrich  Strauss,  enti- 
tled "Ulrich  von  Hutten."  (Fourth 
Edition :  Bonn,  1878.)  No  attempt 
has  been  made  to  give  here  an 
account  of  Hutten's  writings,  only 
a  few  of  the  more  noteworthy  being 
mentioned. 


3764 


u 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTON 


Four  centuries  ago  began  the   grea€ 
modem  struggle  for  freedom  of  thought 
which  has  made  our  modern  civilization 
possible.'    I  wish  here  to  give  something  i 
of  the  story  of  a  man  who  in  his^day  was  ^ 
not  the  least  in  this  conflict — ^a  man  who 

-^  ..  ■  — r  ■  '  ■ .r-      II....- I  III  --— ** 

dared  to  think  and  act  for  himself  when 
thought  and  act  were  costly — Ulrich  von  j 
Hutten.  ^^ 

TN'ear  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  on  a 
sharp  pinnacle  of  rock  above  the  little 
railway  station  of  VoUmerz,  may  still  be 
found  the  scanty  ruins  of  an  old  castle 
which  played  a  brave  part  in  German 
history  before  it  was  destroyed  in  the 
Thirty  Years  War. 

In  this  castle  of  Steckelberg,  in  the 
year  liSsT'was  born  Ulrich  von  Hutten.  T\ 

Hewas  the  last  of  a,  long  line  of  Huttens  ^  ,  S 
of  Steckelberg,  strong  men  who  knew  not  V 
fear,  who  had  fought  for  the  Emperor 
in  all  lands  whither  the  imperial  eagle 
had  flown,  and  who,  when  the  empire  was 
1 


2  i    ULaiCH  VON  HUTTEN 

at  peace,  had  fought  right  merrily  with 
their  neighbors  on  all  sides.  Robber- 
knights  they  were,  no  doubt,  some  or  all 
of  them;  but  in  those  days  all  was  fair  in 
love  and  in  war.  And  this  line  of  war- 
riors centered  in  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  and 
with  him  it  ended.  "The  wild  kindred 
has  gone  out  with  this  its  greatest." 

Ulrich  was  the  eldest  son,  and  bore  his 
father's  name.  But  he  was  not  the  son 
for  which  his  father  had  hoped.  Slender 
of  figure,  short  of  stature,  and  weak  of 
limb,  Ulrich  seemed  unworthy  of  his 
burly  ancestry.  The  horse,  the  swordj^ 
j^nd  the  lute. were  nat.  for  him.  .  Jle  tried 
Ijard  to  master  them,  and  to  succeed  in  all 
things  worthy  of  a  knight.     But  he  was_ 


^.y^ 


strong  only  with  his  books.  At  last  to  his 
books  his  father  consigned  him,  and, 
sorely  disappointed,  he  sent  Ulrich  to  the 
monastery  of  Fulda  to  be  made  a  priest." 
A  wise  man,  Eitelwolf  von  Stein,  be- 
came his  friend,  and  disclosed  to  him  a 
life  braver  than  that  of  a  priest,  nobler 
than  that  of  a  knight, — the  li%  of  a 
scholar.     To  Hutten's  father  Eitelwolf 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN        3 

wrote:    "Would  you  bury  a  genius  like 
that  in  the  cloister?    He  must  be  a  man 
of  letters."     But  the  father  had  decided 
once  for  all.    Ulrich  must  be  a  priest,  else 
he    must    never    return   to    Steckelberg.       "^\^ 
And  the  son  took  his  fate  in  his  own         y 
hands.     He  renounced  the  jgriesthood  as 
he  had  been  forced  to  renounce  knight- 
hood.   He  fled  from  Fulda,  to  make  his  \w 
way  as  a  scholar  in  the  world — a  world  ""^ 
in  which,  in  those  days  as  in  most  others,  ^ 
scholarship  received  scanty  recognition. 

At  the  same  time,  another  young  man 
whose  history  was  to  be  interwoven  with 
his  own,  Martin  Luther,  fled  from  the 
turbulence  and  deceit  of  this  same  world 
to  the  solitude  of  the  monastery  of  Er- 
furth.  By  very  diff^erent  paths  they 
came  at  last  to  work  in  the  same  cause, 
and  their  methods  of  action  were  not  less 
different. 

To  the  University  of  Cologne  Hutten 
^ventTand  witlTthe  students" of  that  day 
he  was'trained  in  the  mysteries  of  schol- 
asticism, and  in  the  Latin  of  the  school- 
men and  the  priests.     Wonderful  prob- 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 


y 


0- 


--4 


lems  they  pondered  over,  and  they  used 
to  write  long  arguments  in  Latin  for  or 
against  propositions  which  came  nowhere 
within  the  domain  of  fact.  That  schol- 
arship stood  related  to  reality,  and  that 
it  must  find  its  end  and  justification  in 
action,  was  no  part  of  the  philosophy  of 
those  times. 

But  Hutten  and  his  friends  cared  little 
for  scholastic  puzzles,  and  they  gave 
themselves  to  the  study  of  the  beauties 
of  Latin  poetry  and  to  the  newly  opened 
mine  of  tKeTiterature  of  Greece.  They 
delighted  in  Virgil  and  Lucian  and 
still  more  in  Homer  and  Aeschylus. 

The  Turks  had  conquered  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  fall  of  the  Greek  Empire 
had  driven  many  learned  Greeks  to  the 
west  of  Europe.  There  some  of  the 
scholars  received  them  with  open  arms, 
and  eagerly  learned  from  them  to  read 
Homer  and  Aristotle  in  the  original 
tongue,  and  the  New  Testament  also. 
Those  who  followed  thea^.  studies  came 
to  be  known  as  Humanists.  But  most  of 
the   universities   and   the   monasteries  in 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

Germany   looked    upon    this    revival    o 
Greek  culture  as  pernicious  and  antichris 
tian.     Poetry  they  despised.     The  Latin 
Vulgate  met  their  religious  needs,   and 
Greek  was  to  them  only  another  name  for 
Paganism.     The  party  name  of  Obscur- 
antists  ("Dunkelmanner")  was  given  t 
these,  and  this  name  has  remained  wit) 
them  on  the  records  of  history. 

In  the  letters  of  one  of  Hutten's  coi?i- 
rades  we  find  this  confession  of  faith, 
which  is  interesting  as  expressing  the 
feelings  of  young  men  of  that  time: 
"There  is  but  one  God,  but  he  has  many 
forms,  arid_,Baaiiy  names — Jupiter,  Sol, 
ApollorfMoses^hrist,  Luna,  Ceres,  Pro- 
serpinerTellus,  Mary.  But  be  careful 
how  you  say  that.  One  must  disclose 
these  things  in  secret  like  Eleusinian 
mysteries.  In  matters  of  religion  you 
must  use  the  cover  of  fables  and  riddles. 
You,  with  Jupiter's  grace  (that  is,  the 
grace  of  the  best  and  greatest  god),  can 
despise  the  lesser  gods  in  silence.  When 
I  say  Jupiter,  I  mean  Christ  and  the  true 
God.    The  coat  and  the  beard  and  the 


it>^ 


'sP"^ 


^ 


V' 


0 


{ 


p 


^ 


\ 


6        ULMCH  VON  HUTTEN 

bones  of  Christ  I  worship  not.  I  worship 
the  living  God,  who  wears  no  coat  nor 
beard,  and  left  no  bones  upon  the  earth." 
Hutten  wished  to  know  the  world,  not 
from  books  only,  but  to  see  all  cities  and 
lands;  to  measure  himself  with  other 
men;  to  rise  above  those  less  worthy.  The 
danger  of  such  a  course  seemed  to  him 
only  the  greater  attraction.  Content  to 
him  was  laziness ;  love  of  home  but  a  dog's 
delight  in  a  warm  fire.  "I  live,"  he  said, 
"in  no  place  rather  than  another;  my 
home  is  everywhere." 

So  he  tramped  through  Northern  Ger- 
many in  most  sorry  fashion.  In  his  own 
mind  he  was  a  scholar,  a  poet,  a  knight  of 
the  noblest  blood  of  Germany;  to  others 
he  was  a  little  sickly  and  forlorn  vagrant. 
Never  strong  of  body,  he  was  stricken  by 
a  miserable  disease  which  filled  his  life 
with  a  succession  of  attacks  of  fever.  He 
was  shipwrecked  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  sick 
and  wretched  in  Pomerania,  and  at  last 
/  he  was  received  in  charity  in  the  house  of 
I  Henning  Lotz,  professor  of  law  at  Greif- 
\  eswald. 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN        7 

This  action  has  given  Lotz's  name  im- 
mortality, for  it  is  associated  with  the 
first  of  those  fiery  poems  of  Hutten 
which,  in  their  way,  are  unique  in  Utera- 
ture.  For  Hutten  was  restless  and 
proud,  and  was  not  to  be  content  with 
bread  and  butter  and  a  new  suit  of 
clothes.  His  independence  was  displeas- 
ing to  the  professor,  who  finally,  in  utter 
disgust,  turned  Hutten  out  of  doors  in 
midwinter.  When  the  boy  had  tramped 
awhile  in  storm  and  slush,  two  servants 
of  Lotz  overtook  him  on  the  road  and 
robbed  him  of  his  money  and  clothing. 
In  a  most  forlorn  plight  he  reached  a 
little  inn  in  Rostock,  in  Mecklenberg. 
Here  the  professors  in  the  university 
received  him  kindly,  and  made  provision 
for  his  needs.  Then  he  let  loose  the  fury 
of  his  youthful  anger  on  Lbtz.  As  ever, 
his  poetic  genius  rose  with  his  wrath,  and 
the  more  furious  his  temper  the  greater 
his  force  as  a  poet. 

Two  volumes  he  published,  ringing  the 
changes  of  his  contempt  and  hatred  of 
Lbtz,  at  the  same  time  praising  the  vir- 


8        ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

tues  of  those  who  had  found  in  him  a  kin- 
dred spirit.  A  "knight  of  the  order  of 
poets"  he  styles  himself,  and  to  all  Hu- 
manists, to  the  "fellow-feeling  among 
free  spirits"  ( "Gemeingeist  unter  freien 
Geistern")  he  appeals  for  sympathy  in 
his  struggle  with  Lbtz. 

He  had,  indeed,  not  found  a  foeman 
worthy  of  his  steel,  but  he  had  shown 
what  a  finely  tempered  blade  he  bore.  In 
later  times  he  found  more  worthy  adver- 
saries, and  his  steel  had  need  of  all  its 
sharpness  and  temper.  But  it  never 
failed  him  to  the  last. 

Meanwhile  he  wandered  to  Vienna, 
giving  lectures  there  on  the  art  of  poetry. 
But  poetry  was  abhorred  by  the  school- 
men everywhere,  and  the  students  of  the 
university  were  forbidden  to  attend  his 
lectures.  He  then  went  to  Italy.  When 
he  reached  Pavia,  he  found  the  city  in 
the  midst  of  a  siege,  surrounded  by  a  hos- 
tile French  army.  He  fell  ill  of  a  fever, 
and  giving  himself  up  for  dead,  he  com- 
posed the  famous  epitaph  for  himself,  of 
which  I  give  a  rough  translation: 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN        9 

Here,  also  be  it  said,    a  life    of    ill-fortune  is 
ended ; 
By  evil  pursued  on  the  water ;  beset  by  wrong 
upon  land. 
Here  lie  Hutten's  bones ;  he,  who  had  done  noth- 
ing wrongful. 
Was  wickedly  robbed  of  his  life  by  the  sword 
in  a  Frenchman's  hand. 
By  Fate,  decided  that  he  should  see  unlucky 
days  only ; 
Decided  that  even  these  days  could  never  be 
-  many  or  long ; 
Hemmed  in  by  danger  and  death,  he  forsook 
not  serving  the  muses. 
And  as  well  as  he  could,  he  rendered  this  ser- 
vice in  song. 

The  Frenchman's  sword  did  not  rob 
him  of  life.  The  Frenchman's  hand  took 
his  money,  which  was  not  much,  and 
again  sent  him  adrift.  He  now  set  his 
pen  to  writing  epigrams  on  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  wherein  Maximilian  was 
compared  to  the  eagle  which  should  de- 
vour the  frogs  in  the  swamps  of  Venice. 
Meanwhile  he  enlisted  as  a  common  sol- 
dier in  Maximilian's  army. 


10      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

In  Italy  the  abuses  of  the  Papacy  at- 
tracted his  attention.  Officials  of  the 
Church  were  then  engaged  in  extending 
the  demand  for  indulgences.  The  al- 
leged sale  of  pardons  "straight  from 
Rome,  all  hot,"  was  becoming  a  scandal 
in  Christendom.  All  this  roused  the 
wrath  of  Hutten,  who  attacked  the  Pope 
himself  in  his  songs: 

Heaven  now  stands  for  a  price  to  be  peddled 

and  sold, 
But  what  new  folly  is  this,  as  though  the  fiat 

of  Heaven 
Needed  an   earthly  witness,  an   earthly  war- 
"^       rant  and  seal !  " 

More  prosperous  times  followed,  and 
we  find  Hutten  honored  as  a  poet,  living 
in  the  court  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz. 
At  this  time  a  cousin,  Hans  Hutten,  a 
young  man  of  great  courage  and  prom- 
ise, was  a  knight  in  the  service  of  Ulrich, 
Duke  of  Wiirtemberg.  He  was  a  favor- 
ite of  the  Duke,  and  he  and  his  young 
wife  were  the  life  of  the  Wiirtemberg 
court.    Duke  Ulrich  once  came  to  Hans 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      11 

Hutten  and  threw  himself  at  his  feet, 
begging  that  he  should  cast  off  his  wife, 
whom  he  loved,  that  she  might  be  the  mis- 
tress of  the  Duke.  Hans  Hutten  an- 
swered the  Duke  as  a  brave  man  should, 
and  the  Duke  arose  with  murder  in  his 
heart.  Afterward,  when  they  were  hunt- 
ing in  a  wood,  he  stabbed  Hans  Hutten 
in  the  back  with  his  sword. 

All  this  came  to  the  ear  of  Ulrich  Hut-  ,     \tb 

ten  in  Mainz.     Love  for  his  cousin,  love\    ^\ 
for^his  name  and  family,  love  for  free-    y       A/ 
dom  and  truth,  all  urged  him  to  avenge   j  /jj^^l/ 
the  murdered  Hans.     The  wrongs  the  / 
boy  had  suffered  from  the  coarse-hearted 
Professor  Lotz  became  as  nothing  beside 
this  great  crime  against  the  Huttens  and 
against  manhood. 

In  all  the  history  of  invective,  there  is\  ^ 

nothing  more  fierce  than  Hutten's  ap-  \    L^t^^^ 
peal  against  Duke  Ulrich.     In  five  dif-  /^     ^  C 
ferent  pamphlets  his  crime  was  described  /       \f,^    \j^^^ 
to  the  German  people  and  all  good  men/   v  ^^J^  / 
from  the  Emperor  down,  were  called  oii     \p 
to  help  him  in  his  struggle  against  the 
Duke  of  Wiirtemberg. 


"^-^ 


12      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

"I  envy  you  your  fame,  you  mur- 
derer," he  wrote.  "A  year  will  be  named 
for  you,  and  there  shall  be  a  day  set  off 
for  you.  Future  generations  shall  read, 
for  those  who  are  born  this  year,  that 
they  were  born  in  the  year  stained  by  the 
ineffaceable  shame  of  Germany.  You 
will  come  into  the  calendar,  scoundrel. 
You  will  enrich  history.  Your  deed  is 
immortal,  and  you  will  be  remembered  in 
all  future  time.  You  have  had  your  am- 
bition, and  you  shall  never  be  forgot." 

This  struggle  lasted  long.  Finally, 
after  many  appeals,  the  German  nobles 
rose  in  arms  and  besieged  Stuttgart,  and 
Duke  Ulrich  was  driven  from  the  land 
he  had  disgraced. 

--Again  Hutten  visited  Italy,  this  time 
after  a  partial  reconciliation  with  his  fa- 
ther, who  would  overlook  his  failure  to 
become  a  priest  if  he  would  study  law  at 
Rome.  At  about  the  same  time  Luther 
visited  Rome.  He  came,  at  first,  in  a 
spirit  of  humble  reverence;  but,  at  last, 
he  wrote  in  fierce  indignation:  "Wenn 
es    gibt    eine    Hblle,    Roma    ist   darauf 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      13 


gebaut."  ("If  there  is  a  hell,  Rome  is 
built  on  it.") 

The  impression  on  Htitten  was  scarcely- 
less  vivid.  Little  by  little  he  began  to  see 
in  the  Pope  of  Rome  a  criminal  greater 
than  Professor  Lotz,  more  dangerous 
than  Duke  Ulrich,  one  who  could  devour 
not  one  cousin  only,  but  the  whole  Ger- 
man people  and  nation.  "For  three  hun- 
dred years,"  said  he,  "the  Pope  and  the 
schoolmen  have  been  covering  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ  with  a  mass  of  supersti- 
tious ceremonies  and  wicked  books." 
These  feelings  were  poured  out  in  an  ap- 
peal to  the  German  rulers  to  shake  off 
the  yoke,  and  no  longer  send  their  money 
to  "Simon  of  Rome." 

Hutten's  friends  tried  to  induce  him  to 
keep  the  peace.  He  was  a  jnan  not  of 
free  thought  only,  but  of  free  speech, 
and  knew  no  conqealment.  Milder  men 
in  those  times,  as  later  Melancthon  and 
Erasmus,  were  full  of  admiration  of 
Hutten,  and  valued  his  skill  and  force. 
But  they  were  afraid  of  him,  and  fearful 
always  that  the  best  of  causes  should  be 
wrecked  in  his  hands. 


\/f^ 


e^ 


14      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

At  this  time,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five^^ 
Hutten  is  described  as  a  small,  thin  man, 
of  homely  features,  with  blonde  hair  and 
black  beard.  His  pale  face  wore  a  se- 
vere, almost  wild,  expression.  His  speech 
was  sharp,  often  terrible.  Yet  with  those 
whom  he  loved  and  respected  his  voice 
had  a  frank  and  winning  charm.  He  had 
but  few  friends,  but  they  were  fast  ones. 
His  personal  character,  so  far  as  records 
go,  was  singularly  pure,  and  not  often  in 
his  writings  does  he  strike  a  coarse  or 
unclean  note. 

In  these  days,  the  two  most  learned 

/men    in    Germany    were    Erasmus    and 

1  Reuchlin.  They  were  leaders  of  the  Hu- 

Imanists,   skilled  in   Greek   and  even  in 

vthe  Hebrew  tongue,  and  were  called  by 

Hutten  "the  two  eyes  of  Germany."     A 

Jew   named  PfefFerkorn,    who   had  be- 

V  6^   /       come    converted    to     Christianity,     was 

P       ^  r        filled  with  an  unholy  zeal  against  his  fel- 

-  ^  low-Jews  who  had  not  been  converted. 

Among  other  things,  he  asked  an  edict 

from  the  Emperor  that  all  Jewish  books 

in  Germany  should  be  destroyed.  Reuch- 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      15 

lin  was  a  Hebrew  scholar.  He  had  writ- 
ten a  Hebrew  grammar,  and  was  learned 
in  the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as  in  the 
Talmud  and  other  deposits  of  the  an- 
cient lore  of  the  rabbis.  The  Emperor 
referred  PfeiFerkorn's  request  to  Reuch- 
lin  for  his  opinion.  Reuchlin  decided 
that  there  was  no  valid  reason  for  the  de- 
struction of  any  of  the  ancient  Jewish 
writings,  and  only  of  such  modern  ones 
as  might  be  decided  by  competent  schol- 
ars to  be  hostile  to  Christianity. 

This  enraged  Pfefferkom  and  his  ObA 
scurantist    associates.      Pamphlets    were\ 
written  denouncing  Reuchlin,  and  these 
were  duly  answered.    A  general  war  of 
words  between  the  Humanists  and  Ob 


scurantists  began,  which,  in  time,  came  ^.f      yA^ 
before    the    Pope    and    the    Emperor.  X^"^ 


Reuchlin  was  regarded  in  those  days  as  a  I 
man  of  unusual  calmness  and  dignity.  \ 
Next  to  Erasmus,  he  was  the  most 
learned  scholar  in  Europe.  He  would 
never  condescend  in  his  controversies  to 
the  coarse  terms  used  by  his  adversaries. 
We  may  learn  something  of  the  temper 


^ 


# 


16      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

of  the  times  by  observing  that,  in  a  single 
pamphlet,  as  quoted  by  Strauss,  the 
epithets  that  the  dignified  Reuchlin  ap- 
plies to  PfeiFerkorn  are:  "A  poisonous 
beast,"  "a  scarecrow,"  "a  horror,"  "a 
mad  dog,"  "a  horse,"  "a  mule,"  "a  hog," 
"a  fox,"  "a  raging  wolf,"  "a  Syrian 
.  lion,"  "a  Cerberus,"  "a  fury  of  hell."  _In 

i  this  matter  Rejichlin  was  finally  trium- 
phant.    This  triumph  was  loudly  cele- 
brated by  his  friend  Hutten  in  another 
poem,  in  which  the  Obscurantists  were 
\  mercilessly  attacked. 

We  have  seen  with  Hutten's  growth  a 
gradual  increase  in  the  importance  of 
those  to  whom  he  declared  himself  an 
enemy.  He  began  as  a  boy  with  the  ob- 
sctire  Professor  Lotz.     He  ended  with 

^  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

/  At  this  time  Reuchlin  published  a  vol- 
ume called  "Epistolae  Clarorum  Vir- 
orum"  ("letters  of  illustrious  men").  It 
was  made  up  of  letters  written  by  the  va- 
rious learned  men  of  Europe  to  Reuchlin, 
in  sympathy  with  him  in  his  struggle. 
The  title  of  this  work  gave  the  keynote 


/, 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      17 

to  a  series  of  letters  called  "Epistolae 
Obscurorum  Virorim"  ("letters  of  ob- 
scure men") — ^that  is,  of  Obscurantists. 

These  letters,  written  by  different  per-- 
sons  but  largely  by  Hutten,  are  the  most 
remarkable  of  all  satires  of  that  time. 
They  are  a  series  of  imaginary  epistles, 
supposed  to  be  addressed  by  various  Ob- 
scurantists to  a  poet  named  Ortuinus. 
They  are  written  with  consummate  skill, 
in  the  degenerate  Latin  used  by  the 
priests  in  those  days,  and  are  made  to  ex- 
hibit all  the  secret  meanness,  ignorance, 
and  perversity  of  their  supposed  writers. 

The  first  of  these  epistles  of  the  "ob- 
scure men"  were  eagerly  read  by  their 
supposed  associates,  the  Obscurantists. 
Here  were  men  who  felt  as  they  felt,  and 
who  were  not  afraid  to  speak.  The  mendi- 
cant friars  in  England  had  a  day  of  re- 
joicing, and  a  Dominican  friar  in  Flan- 
ders bought  all  the  copies  of  the  letters  he 
could  find  to  present  to  his  bishop. 

But  in  time  even  the  dullest  began  to 
fell  the  severity  of  the  satire.  The  last 
of  these  letters  formed  the  most  telling 


18      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

blows  ever  dealt  at  the  schoolmen  by  the 
men  of  learning.  In  one  of  the  earlier 
letters  we  find  this  question,  which  may 
serve  as  a  type  of  many  others : 

A  man  ate  an  egg,  in  which  a  chicken 
was  just  beginning  to  form,  ignorant  of 
that  fact,  and  forgetting  that  it  was  Fri- 
day. A  friend  consoles  him  by  saying 
that  a  chicken  in  that  stage  counts  for  no 
more  than  worms  in  cheese  or  in  cherries, 
and  these  can  be  eaten  even  in  fasting- 
time.  But  the  writer  is  not  satisfied. 
Worms,  he  has  been  told  by  a  physician, 
who  was  also  a  great  naturalist,  are  reck- 
oned as  fishes,  which  one  can  eat  on  fast- 
days.  But  with  all  this,  he  fears  that  a 
young  chicken  may  be  really  forbidden 
food,  and  he  asks  the  help  of  the  poet 
Ortuinus  to  a  righteous  decision. 

Another  person  writes  to  Ortuinus: 
"There  is  a  new  book  much  talked  of 
here,  and,  as  you  are  a  poet,  you  can  do 
us  a  good  service  by  telling  us  of  it.  A 
notary  told  me  that  this  book  is  the  well- 
spring  of  poetry,  and  that  its  author,  one 
Homer,  is  the  father  of  all  poets.    And 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      19 

he  said  there  is  another  Homer  in  Greek. 
I  said,  *What  is  the  use  of  the  Greek? 
The  Latin  is  much  better.'  And  I  asked, 
'What  is  contained  in  the  book?'  And  he 
said  it  treats  of  certain  people  who  are 
called  Greeks,  who  carried  on  a  war  with 
some  others  called  Trojans.  And  these 
Trojans  had  a  great  city,  and  those 
Greeks  besieged  it  and  stayed  there  ten 
years.  And  the  Trojans  came  out  and 
fought  them  till  the  whole  plain  was  cov- 
ered with  blood  and  qtiite  red.  And  they 
heard  the  noise  in  heaven,  and  one  of 
them  threw  a  stone  which  twelve  men 
could  not  lift,  and  a  horse  began  to  talk 
and  utter  prophecies.  But  I  can't  believe 
that,  because  it  seems  impossible,  and  the 
book  seems  to  me  not  to  be  authentic.  I 
pray  you  give  me  your  opinion." 

Another  relates  the  story  of  his  visit 
to  Reuchlin:  *When  I  came  into  his 
house,  Reuchlin  said,  'Welcome,  bach- 
elor; seat  yourself.'  And  he  had  a  pair 
of  spectacles  ('unum  Brillum')  on  his 
nose,  and  a  book  before  him  curiously 
written,  and  I  saw  at  once  that  it  was 


20      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

neither  in  German  nor  Bohemian,  nor  yet 
in  Latin.  And  I  said  to  him,  'Respected 
Doctor,  what  do  they  call  that  book?' 
He  answered,  'It  is  called  the  Greek  Plu- 
tarch, and  it  treats  of  philosophy.'  And 
I  said,  'Read  some  of  it,  for  it  must  con- 
tain wonderful  things.'  Then  I  saw  a 
little  book,  newly  printed,  lying  on  the 
floor,  and  I  said  to  him,  'Respected  Doc- 
tor, what  lies  there?'  He  answered,  'It  is 
a  controversial  book,  which  a  friend  in 
Cologne  sent  me  lately.  It  is  written 
against  me.  The  theologians  in  Cologne 
have  printed  it,  and  they  say  that  Johann 
PfefFerkorn  wrote  it.'  And  I  said, 
'What  will  you  do  about  it?  Will  you 
not  vindicate  yourself?'  And  he  an- 
swered, 'Certainly  not.  I  have  been  vin- 
dicated long  ago,  and  can  spend  no  time 
on  these  follies.  My  eyes  are  too  weak 
for  me  to  waste  their  strength  on  matters 
which  are  not  useful.' " 

We  next  find  Hutten  high  in  the  favor 
of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  by  whose 
order  he  was  crowned  poet-laureate  of 
Germany.      The    wreath   of   laurel   was 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      21 

woven  by  the  fair  hands  of  Constance 
Peutinger,  who  was  called  the  handsom- 
est girl  in  Germany,  and  with  great  cere- 
mony she  put  this  wreath  on  his  head  in 
the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  at  Mainz. 

Now,  for  the  first  time,  Hutten  seems 
to  have  thought  seriously  of  marriage. 
He  writes  to  a  friend,  Friedrich  Fischer: 
"I  am  overcome  with  a  longing  for  rest, 
that  I  may  give  myself  to  art.  For  this, 
I-need  a  wife  who  shall  take  care  of  me. 
You  know  my  ways.  I  cannot  be  alone, 
not  even  by  night.  In  vain  they  talk  to 
me  of  the  pleasures  of  celibacy.  To  me 
it  is  loneliness  and  monotony.  I  was  not 
born  for  that.  I  must  have  a  being  who 
can  lead  me  from  sorrows — ^yes,  even 
from  my  graver  studies;  one  with  whom 
I  can  joke  and  play,  and  carry  on  light 
and  happy  conversations,  that  the  sharp- 
ness of  sorrow  may  be  blunted  and  the 
heat  of  anger  made  mild.  Give  me  a 
wife,  dear  Friedrich — you  know  what 
sort  of  wife  I  want.  She  must  be  young, 
pretty,  well  educated,  serene,  tender,  pa- 
tient.    Money  enough  give  her,  but   not 


22      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

too  much.  For  riches  I  do  not  seek;  and 
as  for  blood  and  birth,  she  is  already  noble 
to  whom  Hutten  gives  his  hand." 

A  young  woman — Cunigunde  Glau- 
burg — ^was  found,  and  she  seemed  to  meet 
all  requirements.  But  the  mother  of  the 
bride  was  not  pleased  with  the  arrange- 
ment. Hutten  was  a  "dangerous  man," 
she  said,  "a  revolutionist."  "I  hope," 
said  Hutten,  *'that  when  she  comes  to 
know  me,  and  finds  in  me  nothing  rest- 
less, nothing  mutinous,  my  studies  full 
of  humor  and  wit,  she  will  look  more 
kindly  on  me."  To  a  brother  of  Cuni- 
gUnde  he  writes:  "Hutten  has  not  con- 
quei:ed  many  cities,  like  some  of  these 
iron-eaters,  but  through  many  lands  has 
wandered  with  the  fame  of  his  name.  He 
has  not  slain  his  thousands,  like  those, 
but  may  be  none  the  less  loved  for  that. 
He  does  not  stalk  about  on  yard-long 
shin-bones,  nor  does  his  gigantic  figure 
frighten  travelers;  but  in  strength  of 
spirit  he  yields  to  none.  He  does  not 
glow  with  the  splendor  of  beauty,  but  he 
dares    flatter    himself    that    his    soul   is 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      23 

worthy  of  love.  He  does  not  talk  big, 
nor  swell  himself  with  boasting,  but 
simply,  openly,  honestly  acts  and 
speaks." 

But  all  his  wooing  came  to  naught; 
another  man  wedded  the  fair  Cunigunde, 
and  the  coming  storm  of  Romish  wrath 
left  Hutten  no  opportunity  to  turn  his 
attention  elsewhere. 

The  old  Pope  was  now  dead,  and  one 
of  the  famous  family  of  Medici,  in  Flor- 
ence, had  succeeded  him  as  Leo  the 
Tenth.  /Leo  was  kindly  disposed  toward 
the  Humanist  studies,^  and  Hutteri,  as 
jgoetjof  the  Humanists,  addressed  to  him 
directly  a  remarkable  appeal,  which  made 
the  turning-point  in  his  life,  for  it  placed 
him  openly  among  among  those  who  re- 
sisted the  Pope. 

Qiecounting  to  the  new  Pope  Leo  all 
the  usurpations  which  in  his  judgment 
had  been  made,  one  by  one,  by  his  prede- 
cessors— all  the  robberies,  impositions, 
and  abuses  of  the  Papacy,  from  the  time 
of  Constantine  down — ^he  appeals  to  Leo, 
as  a  wise  man  and  a  scholar,  to  restore 


24      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

stolen  power  and  property,  to  correct  all 
abuses,  to  abandon  all  temporal  power, 
and  become  once  more  the  simple  Bishop 
of  Rome.  "For  there  can  never  be  peace 
between  the  robber  and  the  xpbbed  till 
the  stolen  goods  are  returned.^ 

Now,  for  the  first  time,  the  work  of 
Luther  came  to  Hutten's  attention.  The 
disturbances  at  Wittenberg  were  in  the 
beginning  treated  by  all  as  a  mere  squab- 
ble of  the  monks.  To  Leo  the  Tenth  this 
discussion  had  no  further  interest  than 
this:  "Brother  Martin,"  being  a  scholar, 
was  most  probably  right.  To  Hutten, 
who  cared  nothing  for  doctrinal  points, 
it  had  no  significance;  the  more  monkish 
strifes  the  better — "the  sooner  would  the 
enemies  eat  each  other  up." 
/"  But  now  Hutten  came  to  recognize  in 
Luther  the  apostle  of  freedom  of  thought, 
/^^^  .-^M      ^^^  ^^  ^^^^  struggle  of  the  Reformation 


/ 


he  found  a  nobler  cause  than  that  of  the 

Humanists — in   Luther   a   greater  than 

Reuchlin.    And  Hutten  never  did  things 

^*^^^^yK    ^^  halves.    He  entered  into  the  warfare 

yy^    \     heart  and  soul.    In  1520  he  published  his 


r      .  r^ 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      25 

"Roman    Trinity,"    his    gage   of   battle 
against  Roffie. 

He  nowfTike  Luther,  began  to  dra\^ 
his  inspiration,  as  well  as  his  language,) 
not  from  the  classics,  but  from  the  New  i 
Testament.     A  new  motto  he  took  for\ 
himself,  one  which  was  henceforth  ever  ) 
on  his  lips,  and  which  appears  again  and  ' 
again  in  his   later   writings:    "Jacta  est 
alea"     ("the    die  is  cast") ;   or,  in  the 
stronger  German,  in  which  he  more  often  / 
gave  it,   "Ich  hab's  gewagt"    ("I  have 
dared  itl"  ^ 

"  Auf  dasz  ichs  nit  anheb  umsunst 

Wolauf,  wir  haben  Gottes  Gunst; 

Wer  wollt  in  solchem  bleiben  dheim? 

Ich  hab's  gewagt !  das  ist  raein  Reim !  " 

**  Der  niemand  grossem  Schaden  bringt, 
Dann  mir  als  nooch  die  Sach  gelingt 
Dahin  mich  Gott  und  Wahrheit  bringt, 
Ich  hab's  gewagt." 

"  So  breche  ich  hindurch,  durch  breche  ich,  oder 
ich  f  alle, 
Kampfend,  nach  dem  ich  einmal  geworfen  das 
Loos!" 


26      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

(So  break  I    through   the    ranks    else   I    die 

fighting — 
Fighting,   since  once  and  forever  the   die  I 

have  cast!) 

In  this  motto  we  have  the  keynote  to 
his  fiery  and  earnest  nature.  Convinced 
that  a  cause  was  right,  he  knew  no  bounds 
of  caution  or  policy;  he  feared  no  prison 
or  death.    "I  have  dared  it!" 

"To  all  free  men  of  Germany"  he 
speaks.  "Their  tyranny  will  not  last  for- 
ever; unless  all  signs  deceive  me,  their 
power  is  soon  to  fail — for  already  is  the 
axe  laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  that 
tree  which  bears  not  good  fruit  will  be 
rooted  out,  and  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord 
will  be  purified.  That  you  shall  not  only 
hope,  but  soon  see  with  your  eyes.  Mean- 
while, be  of  good  cheer,  you  men  of  Ger- 
many. Not  weak,  not  untried,  are  your 
leaders  in  the  struggle  for  freedom.  Be 
not  afraid,  neither  weaken  in  the  midst  of 
the  battle,  for  broken  at  last  is  the 
strength  of  the  enemy,  for  the  cause  is 
righteous,  and  the  rage  of  tyranny  is  al- 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      27 

ready  at  its  height.  Courage,  and  fare- 
well! Long  hve  freedom!  I  have  dared 
it!"  ("Lebe  die  Freiheit;  ich  hab's 
gewagt.") 

Warnings  and  threats  innumerable 
came  to  Hutten,  from  enemies  who  feared 
and  hated,  from  friends  who  were  fear- 
ful and  trembling;  but  he  never  flinched. 
He  had  "dared  it."  The  bull  of  excommu- 
nication frightened  him  no  more  than  it 
did  Luther.  But  at  last  he  was  compelled 
to  retire  from  the  cities,  and  he  took  up 
his  abode  in  the  Castle  of  Ebernburg, 
with  Franz  von  Sickingeij. 

Franz  von  Sickengen  was  one  of  the 
great  nobles  of  Germany,  and  he  ruled 
over  the  region  in  the  bend  of  the  Rhine 
between  Worms  and  Bingen.  His  was 
one  of  the  bravest  characters  of  that  time. 
A  knight  of  the  highest  order,  he  became 
a  disciple  of  Hutten  and  Luther,  and  on 
his  help  was  the  greatest  reliance  placed 
by  the  friends  of  the  growing  reform. 
His  strong  Castle  of  Ebernburg,  on  the 
hills  above  Bingen,  was  the  refuge  of  all 
who  were  persecuted  by  the  authorities. 


28      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

The  "Inn  of  Righteousness"  ("Herberge 
von  Gerechtigkeit"),  the  Ebernburg  was 
called  by  Hutten. 

The  Humanists  who  had  stood  with 
Hutten  in  the  struggle  between  Reuchlin 
and  PfefFerkorn  saw  with  growing  con- 
cern the  gradual  transfer  of  the  field  of 
battle  from  questions  of  literature  to 
questions  of  religion.  Reuchlin,  growing 
old  and  weak,  wrote  a  letter,  disavowing 
any  sympathy  with  the  new  uprisings 
against  the  time-honored  authority  of  the 
Church.  This  letter  came  into  Hutten's 
hands,  and,  with  all  his  reverence  for  his 
old  friend  and  master,  he  could  not  keep 
silence. 

"Eternal  gods!",  he  writes,  "what  do 
I  see?  Have  you  sunk  so  deep  in  weak- 
ness and  fear,  O  Reuchlin!  that  you  can- 
not endure  blame  even  for  those  who  have 
fought  for  you  in  time  of  danger? 
Through  such  shameful  subservience  do 
you  hope  to  reconcile  those  to  whom,  if 
you  were  a  man,  you  would  never  give  a 
friendly  greeting,  so  badly  have  they 
treated  you?    Yet  reconcile  them;  and  if 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      29 

there  is  no  other  way,  go  to  Rome  and 
kiss  the  feet  of  Leo,  and  then  write 
against  us.  Yet  you  shall  see  that,  against 
your  will,  and  against  the  will  of  all  the 
godless  courtesans,  we  shall  shake  off  the 
shameful  yoke,  and  free  ourselves  from 
slavery.  I  am  ashamed  that  I  have  writ- 
ten so  much  for  you — have  done  so  much 
for  you — since  when  it  comes  to  action 
you  have  made  such  a  miserable  exit  from 
,the  ranks.  From  me  shall  you  know 
henceforth  that  whether  you  fight  in 
Luther's  cause  or  throw  yourself  at  the 
feet  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  I  shall  never 
trust  you  more."  The  poor  old  man, 
thus  harassed  on  all  sides,  found  no  longer 
any  rest  or  comfort  in  his  studies.  Worn 
out  in  body  and  broken  in  spirit,  he  soon 
died. 

The  great  source  of  Luther's  hold 
Germany  lay  in  his  direct  appeal  to  the 
common  people.  For  this  he  translated 
the  Bible  into  German — even  now  the 
noblest  version  of  the  Bible  in  existence. 
For  in  translating  a  work  of  inspiration 
the  intuition  of  a  man  like  Luther,  as 


30      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

Bayard  Taylor  has  said,  counts  for  more 
than  the  combined  scholarship  of  a  hun- 
dred men  learned  in  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew. "The  clear  insight  of  one  prophet 
is  better  than  the  average  judgment  of 
forty-seven  scribes."  The  German  lan- 
guage was  then  struggling  into  existence, 
and  scholars  considered  it  beneath  their 
notice.  It  was  fixed  for  all  time  by 
Luther's  Bible.  Luther  often  spent  a 
week  on  a  single  verse  to  find  and  fix  the 
idiomatic  German.  "It  is  easy  to  plow 
when  the  field  is  cleared,"  he  said.  "We 
must  not  ask  the  letters  of  the  Latin  al- 
phabet how  to  speak  German,  btit  the 
mother  in  the  kitchen  and  the  plowman 
in  the  field,  that  they  may  know  that  the 
Bible  is  speaking  German,  and  speaking 
to  them.  'Out  of  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  the  mouth  speaketh.'  No  German 
peasant  would  understand  that.  We 
must  make  it  plain  to  him.  'Wess  das 
Herz  voU  ist,  dess  geht  der  Mund  iiber.' 
(* Whose  heart  is  full,  his  mouth  runs 
over.')" 

The  same  influence  acted  on  Hutten. 


:x 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      31 

All  his  previous  writings  were  in  Latin> 
and  were  directed  to  scholars  only. 
Henceforth  he  wrote  the  language  of  the  I  ^  V*^ 
Fatherland,  and  his  appeals  to  the  people  |  ij^  ^^ 
were  in  language  which  the  people  could 
and  did  read.  No  Reformation  ever  came 
while  only  the  learned  and  the  noble  were 
in  the  secret  of  it. 

*'  Latein,  ich  vor  geschrieben  hab 
Das  war  ein  jeden  nicht  bekannt; 
Jetzt  schrei  ich  an  das  Vaterland, 
Teutsch  Nation  in  ihrer  Sprach 
Zu  bringen  diesen  Dingen  Rach." 


(For  Latin  wrote  I  hitherto. 

Which  common  people  did  not  know. 

Now  cry  I  to  the  Fatherland, 

The  German  people,  in  their  tongue. 

Redress  to  bring  for  all  these  wrongs.") 


A  song  for  the  people  he  now  wrote, 
the  "New  Song  of  Ulrich  von  Hutten," 
a  song  which  stands  with  Luther's  "Ein 
f este  Burg"  in  the  history  of  the  Reform- 
ation: 


82      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

"  Ich  hab's  gewagt  mit  Sinnen, 
Und  trag  des  noch  kein  Reu, 
Mag  ich  nit  dran  gewinnen, 
Noch  muss  man  spuren  Treu. 

"  Darmit  ich  mein 

Mit  eim  alien, 
Wenn  Man  es  wolt  erkennen 

Dem  Land  zu  gut 

Wiewol  man  thut 
Ein  Pfaffenfeind  mich  nennen.'* 

Part  of  this  may  be  freely  translated — 

**  With  open  eyes  I  have  dared  it , 
And  cherish  no  regret, 
And  though  I  fail  to  conquer, 
The  truth  is  with  me  yet." 

/  JHlitten's  dreanilin  these  daysj^as  of  a 
league  of  nobles,  cities  and  people,  aided 
by  the  Emperor  if  possible,  against  the 
Emperor  if  necessary,  which  should  by 
force  of  arms  forever  free  Germany  from 
the  rule  of  the  Pope  Ji  Luther  had  little 
faith  in  the  power  of  force.  "What  Hut- 
ten  wishes,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "you 
see.    But  I  do  not  wish  to  strive  for  the 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      33 

Gospel  with  murder  and  violence. 
Through  the  power  of  the  Word  is  the 
world  subdued;  through  the  Word  the 
Church  shall  be  preserved  and  freed. 
Even  Antichrist  shall  be  destroyed  by  the 
power  of  the  Word." 

Now  came  the  great  Diet  at  Worms, 
whither  Luther  was  called  before  the  Em- 
peror to  answer  for  his  heretical  teach- 
ings, and  before  which  he  stood  firm  and 
undaunted,  a  noble  figure  which  has  been 
a  turning  point  in  history.  "Here  I  stand. 
I  can  do  nothing  else.    God  help  me." 

Hutten,  on  his  sick-bed  at  Ebernburg, 
not  far  away,  was  full  of  wrath  at  the 
trial  of  Luther.  "Away!"  he  shouted, 
"away  from  the  clear  fountains,  ye  filthy 
swine !  Out  of  the  sanctuary,  ye  accursed 
peddlers !  Touch  no  longer  the  altar  with 
your  desecrating  hands.  What  have  ye  to 
do  with  the  alms  of  our  fathers,  which 
were  given  for  the  poor  and  the  Church, 
and  you  spend  for  splendor,  pomp,  and 
foolery,  while  the  children  suffer  for 
bread?  See  you  not  that  the  wind  of  Free- 
dom is  blowing?  ("Sehet  ihr  nicht  dass 


34      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

die  Luft  der  Freiheit  weht?")  On  two 
men  not  much  depends.  Know  that  there 
are  many  Luthers,  many  Huttens  here. 
Should  either  of  us  be  destroyed,  still 
greater  is  the  danger  that  awaits  you ;  for 
then,  with  those  battling  for  freedom,  the 
avengers  of  innocence  will  make  common 
cause." 

I  have  wished,  in  writing  this  little 
sketch,  that  I  could  have  a  novelist's  priv- 
ilege of  bringing  out  my  hero  happily  at 
the  end.  I  have  hitherto  had  the  strug- 
gles of  a  man  living  before  his  time  to 
relate ;  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wild- 
erness. If  this  were  a  romance,  I  might 
tell  how,  with  Hutten's  entreaties  and 
Luther's  exhortations,  and  under  the  wise 
management  of  Franz  von  Sickingen, 
the  people  banded  together  against 
foreign  foes  and  foreign  domination,  and 
German  unity,  German  freedom,  and 
religious  liberty  were  forever  established 
in  the  Fatherland.  But,  alas !  the  history 
does  not  run  in  that  way ;  at  least  not  till  a 
hundred  years  of  war  had  bathed  the 
land  in  blood. 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      85 

For  Hutten  henceforth  I  have  only- 
misery  and  failure  to  relate.  The  union 
of  knights  and  cities  resulted  in  a  ruinous 
campaign  of  Franz  von  Sickingen 
against  Treves.  Sickingen's  army  was 
driven  back  by  the  Elector.  His  strong 
Castle  of  Landstuhl  was  besieged  by  the 
Catholic  princes,  and  cannon  was  used  in 
this  siege  for  the  first  time  in  history. 
The  walls  of  Landstuhl,  twenty-five  feet 
thick,  were  battered  down,  and  Sickingen 
himself  was  killed  by  the  falling  of  a 
beam.  The  war  was  over,  and  nothing 
worthy  had  been  accomplished. 

When  Luther  heard  of  the  death  of 
Sickingen,  he  wrote  to  a  friend:  "Yes- 
terday I  heard  and  read  of  Franz  von 
Sickingen's  true  and  sad  story.  God  is  a 
righteous  but  marvelous  Judge.  Sickin- 
gen's fall  seems  to  be  a  verdict  of  the  Lord 
that  strengthens  me  in  the  belief  that  the 
force  of  arms  is  to  be  kept  far  from  mat- 
ters of  the  Gospel." 

Hutten  was  driven  from  the  Ebern- 
burg.    He  was  offered  high  rank  in  the    \r 
service  of  the  King  of  France;  but,  as  a    "^ 


86      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

true  German,  he  refused  it,  and  fled, 
penniless  and  sick,  to  Basle,  in  Switzer- 
land. 

Here  the  great  Humanist,  Erasmus, 
reigned  supreme.  Erasmus  disavowed  all 
sympathy  with  his  former  friend  and  fel- 
low student.  He  caned  Hutten  a  dan- 
gerous and  turbulent  man,  and  warned 
the  Swiss  against  him.  Erasmus  had 
noticed,  with  horror,  in  those  who  had 
studied  Greek,  that  the  influence  of 
Lutheranism  was  fatal  to  learning;  that 
zeal  for  philology  decreased  as  zeal  for  re- 
ligion increased.  Already  Erasmus,  like 
Reuchlin,  was  ranged  on  the  side  of  the 
Pope.  So,  in  letters  and  pamphlets, 
Erasmus  attacked  Hutten;  and  the  poet 
was  not  slow  in  giving  as  good  as  he  re- 
ceived. And  this  war  between  the  Hum- 
anist and  the  Reformer  gave  great  joy  to 
the  Obscurantists,  who  feared  and  hated 
them  both. 

"Humanism,"  says  Strauss,  "was 
broad-minded  but  faint-hearted,  and  in 
none  is  this  better  seen  than  in  Erasmtis. 
Luther  was  a  narrower  man,  but  his  un- 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      37 

varying  purpose,  never  looking  to  left 
nor  right,  was  his  strength.  Humanism 
is  the  broad  mirror-like  Rhine  at  Bingen. 
It  must  grow  narrower  and  wilder  before 
it  can  break  through  the  mountains  to  the 
sea." 

Repulsed  by  Erasmus  at  Basle,  Hutten 
fled  to  Mulhausen.  Attacked  by  assassins 
there,  he  left  at  midnight  for  Zurich, 
where  he  put  himself  under  the  protection 
of  ^Ulrich  Zwingli.  In  Zwingli,  the  purest, 
loftiest,  and  clearest  of  insight  of  all  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Reformation,  Hutten 
found  a  congenial  spirit.  His  health  was 
now  utterly  broken.  To  the  famous 
Baths  of  Pfaffers  he  went,  in  hope  of 
release  from  pain.  But  the  modern  bath- 
houses of  Ragatz  were  not  built  in  those 
days,  and  the  daily  descent  by  rope  from 
above  into  the  dark  and  dismal  chasm  was 
too  much  for  his  feeble  strength.  Then 
Zwingli  sent  him  to  a  kindly  friend,  the 
Pastor  Hans  Schnegg,  who  lived  on  the 
little  island  of  Ufnau,  in  the  Lake  of 
Zurich.  And  here  at  Ufnau,  worn  out  by  v  I 
his  long,  double  conflict  with  the  Pope     ^^hO 


38      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

and  with  disease,  Ulrieh  von  Hutten  died 
in  1523,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  "He 
left  behind  him,"  wrote  Zwingh,  "noth- 
ing of  worth.  Books  he  had  none;  no 
money,  and  no  property  of  any  sort,  ex- 
cept a  pen." 

What  was  the  value  of  this  short  and 
troubled  life?  Three  hundred  years  ago 
it  was  easy  to  answer  with  Erasmus  and 
the  rest — Nothing.  Hutten  had  de- 
nounced the  Pope,  and  the  Pope  had 
crushed  him.  He  had  stirred  up  noble- 
men to  battle  for  freedom,  and  they,  too, 
had  been  destroyed.  Franz  von  Sick- 
ingen  was  dead.  The  league  of  the  cities 
and  princes  had  faded  away  forever. 
Luther  was  hidden  in  the  Wartburg,  no 
one  knew  where,  and  scarcely  a  trace  of 
the  Reformation  was  left  in  Germany. 
Whatever  Hutten  had  touched  he  had 
ruined.  He  had  "dared  it,"  and  the  force 
he  had  defied  had  crushed  him  in  return. 

But,  looking  back  over  these  centuries, 
the  life  of  Hutten  rises  into  higher  prom- 
inence.   His  writings  were  seed  in  good 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      39 

ground.  At  his  death  the  Reformation 
seemed  hopeless.  Six  years  later,  at  the 
second  Diet  of  Spires,  half  Germany 
signed  the  protest  which  made  us  Protes- 
tants. *'It  was  Luther  alone  who  said 
no  at  the  Diet  of  Worms.  It  was  princes 
and  people,  cities  and  churches,  who  said 
no  at  the  Diet  of  Spires." 

Hutten's  dream  of  a  United  German 
people  freed  from  the  yoke  of  Rome  was 
for  three  hundred  years  unrealized.  For 
the  Reformation  sundered  the  German 
people  and  ruined  the  German  Empire, 
and  not  till  our  day  has  German  unity 
come  to  pass.  But,  as  later  reformers 
said,  "It  is  better  that  Germany  should 
be  half  German,  than  that  it  should  be  all  y 
Roman." 

For  the  true  meaning  of  this  conflict^^ 
does  not  lie  in  any  question  of  church 
against  church  or  creed  against  creed, 
nor  that  worship  in  cathedrals  with  altars 
and  incense  and  rich  ceremony  should 
give  way  to  the  simpler  forms  of  the 
Lutheran  litany.  The  issue  was  that 
of  the  growth  of  man.     The  "right  of/ 

-  " r 


:^r^. 


40      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

private  interpretation"  is  the  recognition 
of  personal  individuality. 

The  death  of  Hutten  was,  after  all,  not 
untimely.  He  had  done  his  work.  His 
was  the  "voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wild- 
erness." The  head  of  John  the  Baptist 
lay  on  the  charger  before  Jesus  had  ful- 
filled his  mission.  Arnold  Winkelried,  at 
Sempach,  filled  his  body  with  Austrian 
spears  before  the  Austrian  phalanx  was 
broken.  John  Brown  fell  at  Harper's 
Ferry  before  a  blow  was  struck  against 
slavery.  Ulrich  von^  Hutten  had  set 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  Germany 
to  thinking  of  his  relations  to  the  Lord 
and  to  the  Pope.  His  mission  was  com- 
pleted; and  longer  life  for  him,  as 
Strauss  has  suggested,  might  have  led  to 
discord  among  the  Reformers  themselves. 

For  this  lover  of  freedom  was  intoler- 
ant of  intolerance.  For  fine  points  of 
doctrine  he  had  only  contempt.  When 
the  Lutherans  began  to  treat  as  enemies 
all  Reformers  who  did  not  with  them  sub- 
scribe to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg, 
Hutten's  fiery  pen  would  have  repudiated 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN      41 

this  confession.  For  he  fought  for  free- 
dom of  the  spirit,  not  for  the  Lutheran 
confession. 

Had  he  remained  in  Switzerland,  he 
would  have  been  still  less  in  harmony 
with  the  prevailing  conditions.  Not  long 
after,  Zwingli  was  slain  in  the  wretched 
battle  of  Kappel,  and,  after  him,  the  Swiss 
Reformation  passed  under  the  control  of 
John  Calvin.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  stern  pietist  of  Geneva  would  have 
burned  Ulrich  von  Hutten  with  as  calm  a 
concience  as  he  did  Michael  Servetus. 

The  idea  of  a  united  and  uniform 
Church,  whether  Catholic,  Lutheran,  or 
Calvinist,  had  little  attraction  for  Hut- 
ten.  ,He  was  one  of  the  first  to  realize  ^-. 
that  religion  is  indiyidual,  not  collective. 
It  is  concerned  with  life,  not  with  creeds 
or  ceremonies.  In  the  high  sense,  no  man 
can  follow  or  share  the  religion  of  an- 
other. His  religion,  whatever  it  may  be, 
is  his  own.  It  is  built  up  from  his  own 
thoughts  and  prayers  and  actions.  It  is  the 
expression  of  his  own  ideals.  Only  forms 
can  be  transferred  unchanged  from  man 


-4f 


42      ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 

to  man,  from  generation  to  generation, — 
never  realities.  For  whatever  is  real  to  a 
man  becomes  part  of  him,  and  partakes  of 
his  growth,  and  is  modified  by  his  person- 
ality. 

Hutten  was  buried  where  he  died,  on 
the  little  island  of  Ufnau,  in  the  Lake  of 
Zurich,  at  the  foot  of  the  mighty  Alps. 
And  some  of  his  old  associates  put  over 
his  grave  a  commemorative  stone.  Af- 
terwards, the  monks  of  the  abbey  of 
Einsiedeln,  in  Schwytz,  came  to  the 
island  and  removed  the  stone,  and  obliter- 
ated all  traces  of  the  grave. 

It  was  well  that  they  did  so;  for  now 
the  whole  green  island  of  Ufnau  is  his 
alone,  and  it  is  his  worthy  sepulcher. 


,:::? 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  ^ND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVI^DUE. 


f.F^B.  16    193H 


-.n-'  1938 


))  icG'^j  'Y  9 


mttM 


^9^ 


^ 


Rece 


'VgD 


LIBRARY  USE 


F£826'69-9^,^ 


OiU    5l9b6 


IIIBRARY  USE 


tOAN  DEPT. 


MAR  2  5  1951 


V  1: 


B!A' 


Gva.  f®*** 


'^^"i'65fli,-      DEC  26 1986 


^"TQ.  DISC  Jm     g 


'gr 


REC'D  LP 


AUGU'65-liAiv 


LD  21-95m-7,'37 


.11 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


P 


